​UK surveillance court to rule on major privacy case

A British intelligence tribunal is due to rule on a major privacy case relating to Libyan dissident Abdel Hakim Belhaj and alleged government spying on confidential conversations with his lawyers.

Belhaj’s legal
representatives brought his case to the Investigatory Powers
Tribunal (IPT) after secret documents released by NSA
whistleblower Edward Snowden exposed the extent of US and UK
surveillance.

The British government has fought to keep a key section of the
legal decision secret on the grounds of national security.

James Eadie QC, lawyer for the government, told the IPT it should
stick to a policy of “neither confirm, nor deny” known
as ‘NCND.’

Eadie told the tribunal: “In circumstances where to depart
from the NCND approach would cause damage to national security.
The tribunal should adopt an approach which does not reveal the
fact that interception has taken place.”

Belhaj’s is represented by human rights organization Reprieve and
supported by Amnesty International among other charities.

Reprieve argue the government violated the principle of
“legal privilege,” which ensures communications between
lawyers and clients are confidential.

Laws protecting communications between clients and lawyers date
back hundreds of years and are an established part of British
common law.

Cori Crider, a director at legal charity Reprieve and one of
Belhaj and Boudchar’s lawyers, has previously said the government
had endangered the fundamental British right to a fair trial.

“Reprieve has been warning for months that the security
services’ policies on lawyer-client snooping have been full of
loopholes big enough to drive a bus through,” she said in a
statement in February.

“For too long, the security services have been allowed to
snoop on those bringing cases against them when they speak to
their lawyers. In doing so, they have violated a right that is
centuries old in British common law.”

Crider believes information intercepted by surveillance agencies
may have been passed on to lawyers or ministers involved in
fighting Reprieve’s lawsuit against the British state.

Reprieve are supporting Belhaj in a separate case where he is
suing the UK government for its role in his alleged rendition to
Libya in 2004, where he was imprisoned and tortured by Colonel
Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.

“Only time will tell how badly their case was tainted.

"But right now, the government needs urgently to investigate
how things went wrong and come clean about what it is doing to
repair the damage,” Crider added.

Belhaj, who is seeking damages in court and a formal apology from
the UK for its role in his alleged rendition, has said he will
settle with the British government for just £3.